The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

So, you think it's all fun and games being a movie star and filming the biggest movie of the year? Tell that to Jennifer Lawrence, the star of the 'Hunger Games' franchise who, while filming one of the 'Catching Fire' Cornucopia scenes, had a powerful water jet blast her right in the ear that left her partially deaf. All for your entertainment! That's just one of the little known bits of trivia packed into the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies, which focuses on the biggest film of 2013, 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'.

At some point today, 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' will officially pass 'Iron Man 3' at the box-office to become the biggest movie of 2013 with just over $409 million. This may not sound like a huge deal, but this marks the first time a female-led movie has topped the yearly box-office chart in almost 50 years.

The weekend following a major holiday is always a little slow. The boost from vacationing moviegoers is gone, so everyone tends to take a major dip. Some films end up okay. Some die on the vine. This weekend saw two films weather the storm perfectly fine and one new release collapse on the starting line.

In one of the biggest holiday weekends of all time, the combined might of 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' and 'Frozen' proved that yes, ladies can star in major blockbuster movies. We'll see if this lesson sticks (it won't), but between those two and the surprisingly female-friendly 'Thor: The Dark World,' this was a great weekend if you were looking for quality family entertainment that didn't treat its woman characters like crap.

Everyone knew that 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' was going to do well this weekend, but the lingering question was always whether or not it was going to do "really, really well" or "stupidly, gobsmackingly well." We should know by now that you always bet on Katniss Everdeen defying the odds, because it was the latter and everyone made it look easy.

When the closing credits rolled after the original 'The Hunger Games,' I thought to myself "eh, not bad." But I was in no rush to see the follow-up. When the closing credits rolled after Francis Lawrence's 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,' after I was able to collect myself, I was fully prepared to run out and get a mockingjay tattoo. Over my heart. With the phrase, "I will lay down my life for you, Katniss Everdeen, because you are the first and finest true hero of 21st century cinema."

Just when you thought Subway sandwiches had proven the most bizarre and atonal tie-in for 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,' in comes 'Sesame Street!' Watch Cookie Monster (excuse us, Cookieness Evereat) try to eat his way through 'The Hungry Games: Catching Fur' in a bullseye parody of the blockbuster franchise!

While the first film set the bar awfully high for the rest of the franchise -- telling a rich, brutal and exciting science-fiction story with genuine gravitas -- the sequel didn't always look like a sure thing. Original director Gary Ross dropped the project and the production was rushed to meet a release date, leaving many fans worried that the tale of Katniss Everdeen was in less than sure hands. But the first wave of critiques have washed ashore, and the verdict is ...

Thrill rides and attractions based on popular franchises have proven incredibly lucrative in the past decade, so it's not surprising that a massively popular young-adult book and film series is being eyed for the theme park treatment. What is a little surprising is that we're talking about 'The Hunger Games,' a franchise that takes place is a dystopian future where poor people suffer at the hands of the vicious Capitol and are forced to battle each other to the death on TV. You know, fun for the whole family.

The final trailer for 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' debuted tonight during the fourth game of the MLB World Series, and it's pretty awesome. In the upcoming sequel, as Donald Sutherland's President Snow teases in voice over, Katniss will go from playing mere games to full-out war when she and Peeta are targeted to compete in a new and deadly tournament.

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